“What’s your name, love?”
“Don’t you have work to tend to, Finn?”Aidan pipes up, giving me his annoyed big-brother look.
“Sure, yeah.They’re knocking down the doors today.Clamoring for drinks with the storm going.Pretty shite move of you, making this lovely lady risk her safety out in this weather.”I throw a wink her way.Girls cannot resist the Finn wink.Not in the least.
“Right, well, Francie just took the rubbish out to the bin, so you’d best look busy when he gets back, or he’ll be on your arse.”
I shoot Aidan a fuck-off look and take in the shades of deep, dark pink fading out to a delicate, light cotton-candy hue in her hair, which is all wound together on the top of her head.She looks like she’s trying to hide behind her big sweater and wild hair, but there’s no denying how cute she is.Fucking adorable really.
“Let me know if I can get you anything.I’m at your service…” I draw the last word out, hoping that she’ll fill in her name for me.
Instead, she gives me a side-eye and goes back to her laptop.Fingers flying across the keys, her tongue resting against her top teeth.Not biting it, but kind of.
I need to up my game.Pour on the charm—the lucky charms—and see if I can get a taste of her.“Can I get you?—”
The slamming of the back door cuts me off, mid pickup.
“Christ, Finn.Go move your car, and park it straight.Have you lost all your spatial awareness?”Francie bellows as he bursts through the door from the kitchen.“You’ll be lucky to make it through the winter without your car getting hit again.”
I roll my eyes and slide behind the bar to grab my keys.Aidan barks his obnoxious laugh and looks from the pink-haired pixie to me and back again, not even trying to hold his laughter back at all now.
“What?”I pause, pulling my jacket on.“What’re you laughing at?”I scowl at Aidan sitting smugly with the girl I want to be chatting up.
“I just said it was kind of disappointing that someone so suave couldn’t seem to get it in the right place on the first try,” she replies.This girl keeps an absolutely solid dead stare while Aidan is laughing so hard, I think he might fall out of his chair.Actually, I hope the arse does.
“You don’t need to worry about me sliding into tight spots.I can maneuver just fine.”
Francie scoffs and shakes his head at me, pointing to the back door.
“I avoided a collision just today as I turned into the car park.”Having made my point that I am in fact a stellar driver, I hustle out to straighten my car at the back of the building.
It takes me three tries to park my little Kia perfectly straight and even within the lines.I should probably get my eyes checked and see if I need a new prescription for my glasses.Maybe I’ll get contact lenses this time.Though I’ve always heard that girls like a nerdy-looking guy, and I try hard to be everything the ladies could possibly want.
I wonder how long she’s going to be here, working with Aidan.Maybe I should clean the snow off her car.Maybe she’ll tell me her name if I do.It’s not like there’s anyone inside, waiting on me to serve them.It’s just been the four of us since we opened, and I don’t see the evening filling up too much.
When her car is cleaned off, I knock the snow from my boots at the back door and shake the flakes from my jacket before returning to the bar.My glasses are completely fogged up from the sudden change in temperature.I slide them off to clean them and I’m caught off guard by the finger in my chest.
“You’re the asshole who swerved out front?You almost hit me!”She really is quite little, her head just clearing my shoulder.
“What are you on about?”I slide my glasses back on, so I can focus on her adorably annoyed expression.
“That car you almost hit this morning?That was me, asshole.”
Her royal-blue fingernail jabs repeatedly into the center of my chest.And it hurts.
I grab her hand and bring her knuckles up to my lips, kissing them.“See then, we were destined to meet today,” I croon at her.I totally have this thing in the bag.There’s no way she can resist me.
My attention is drawn to the front door where Aidan is coming back in from outside.I don’t see it coming, not at all.But, when she yanks her hand from mine and shoves her shoulder into my sternum, it knocks the wind from me.
She’s a hell of a lot stronger than I gave her credit for.
“Your car’s all cleared off.Is there anything I can carry for you, Adelaide?”
The arse just took credit for my work.I cleared the snow off her car, me.
“Thanks, but no.”She shrugs on her coat and wraps a blue-and-teal scarf around her neck.And then she pulls bright-green mittens out of her pockets.
She is a riot of color that I can’t seem to take my eyes off of.She’s captivating.
